A BUSINESS consortium is preparing to join the race to buy York City Football Club.

The Manchester-based group has requested details of City's financial plight from the Evening Press.

Derek Spence, a spokesman for the group, said that one member of the organisation had previous interests in Premiership giants Manchester United and First Division club Stockport County.

"The group which I represent are definitely interested, but we need to see a lot of figures first," he said.

Mr Spence added: "We would be able to bring in three football coaches almost immediately to develop the players. But I don't want to go into too much detail before we know more about the financial position."

Cash-strapped City, which announced a record loss of more than £1,200,000 five weeks ago, is on the market and will fold if a buyer cannot be found.

The City board has set a deadline of noon on January 17 for interested parties to make contact with club chairman Douglas Craig.

Mr Spence said that he did an analysis of City's financial position three years ago with a view to another businessman, who is not linked with the Manchester group, possibly making an offer for the Bootham Crescent-based club.

He said Mr Craig's valuation of the club at that time did not match that of the interested buyer, who was based in South Yorkshire, and no formal offer was forthcoming.

Since then the mystery businessman had also looked at Swansea City and Lincoln City, the latter now being run by a Supporters' Trust.

The Supporters' Trust option is one that is being looked into by representatives of City's fans at a meeting on Saturday which has been organised by the Evening Press, City's main sponsors.

Lincoln, who are among City's rivals in Division Three, are struggling for money and have just placed six of their players on the transfer list.

York City Supporters' Club's committee meeting to discuss the way forward in the current crisis has been put back to Wednesday, January 2. It was originally scheduled for tonight.

However, YSC representatives will be attending a meeting with key parties on Saturday which will discuss the date and venue of a public meeting which will held in the New Year.

Updated: 08:56 Thursday, December 27, 2001